Stop the week ..... I wanna get off!!!

Happy Wednesday!

I can't believe we've been home since Sunday (Sunday evening that is) and this is the first time I've had to blog!  Where is this week going??

This time last week we were relaxing in the beautiful Cotswolds, visiting amongst other places, the lovely Cotswold Lavender Farm in Snowshill.
I love this place, it's so pretty and the smell is just amazing (the lavender shortbread's not too bad either!!) 

As well as the lavender fields there was a stunning wild flower meadow which you could walk through ....

How pretty is this .....

Fragrant lavender ......

and beautiful wild flowers .....

The bees were having a great time .....

We had to finish the afternoon with a lavender tea in the Tea Rooms of course,  and I did bring some of the delicious shortbread home with me .... there's not much left though!

We all had a lovely week in Pear Tree Cottage, I would recommend it to anyone.  We're already planning our next trip!

So ..... it's back to normal.   The old craft room door is open again, and as usual it's busy, busy, busy!
This time next week, I'll be running around, doing last minute ironing, checking lists, making sure I've got passports, tickets etc., etc.  Yes ..... I've just about got time to unpack, wash and iron everything then pack it all again before we leave the island on our next little trip ...... LAS VEGAS this time!  Have you seen the temperatures out there ........ over 100 degrees and rising every day ........ it's going to be a HOT one, better not forget the sunscreen!!

But, before I can board that plane I need to get some work done ..... that means I can't sit around chatting all day (unfortunately!)  So ..... off to the craft room it is .... for the morning anyway!

You can also find me on the IndigoBlu Blog today, with a little home decor project for you ....... something to 'light' up those summer evenings perhaps.  Hop over and take a look if you have the time.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.  I'm going AWOL from the old craft room this afternoon (don't tell anyone will you!)  I'm off out for coffee (and probably cake!) then I'm going to someone else's craft room ...... I've been asked to take a brayer with me (oh no!).  It's the one craft tool that makes me really nervous ....... so as you can problably guess mine's hardly been used.  It took me a while to find it actually ...... I'll let you know how I get on!

Cheerio until next time

Linda 

xx

Finally ....... a minute to blog

Happy Wednesday folks!

Welcome to the new followers who've joined me recently ....... it's so nice to have you along. Thank you for spending time here.
There's not a lot of craft going on in the old Craft Lane this week I'm afraid ....... I'm enjoying a nice relaxing week spending quality time with the family.

The cottage is beautiful ... a real home from home with everything we could possibly need and more .....

This was waiting for us when we arrived on Friday ...... soooo good with a nice cup of tea after the drive down ...... yum!!
 
Here's bit of a whistlestop tour of the week so far ...... Cheltenham at the weekend  for the Food and Drink Festival.  Lots of good food, fine wine and a 'zebra' burger sat in the park ......

Sunday was Father's Day ..... and we had a lovely day in Bourton-on-the-Water.  The kids took hubby for a drink ....... Cheers!  Happy Father's Day Grandad

We sat by the river after a nice lunchtime meal out  (we went Italian even though they beat England the night before!!!)

And the afternoon was rounded off with a family game of football ........

Could this be the next David Beckham? .......

Monday was a busy day ...... a trip to Thomas Land over at Drayton Manor .......where we rode on buses, cars, planes, troublesome trucks and of course Thomas

We even met the Fat Controller ......

Tuesday we were in Birdland in Bourton, home to, amongst other things,  England's only collection of King Penguins ......

There was also pretty flamingos .....

Owls .......

 And Chris found a friend too .....

A nice refreshing beer by the river while the little man fed the ducks .....

saw the end to another beautiful day in the Cotswolds ..... this is the life!!

Oooh ....... a rare picture - our two together ......

And I think the little man enjoyed his day .....

Well, I think I've gone on long enough about the holiday .... thanks for sticking with me.

I'll leave you with a little crafty something ...... last month's ATC's for the monthly swap that I'm part of.  The theme was ANIMALS .....

I went with frogs .... not my favourite creature but these little guys are soooo cute .....

They're all from a Penny Black 'T' for Transparent set, which I think is called Toadily Happy .... and they've been coloured using a mixture of pencils, Copic Markers and Distress Inks.

The sentiment on the last one is from the Dylusions stamp set ... The Right Words, stamped and then each line cut individually before positioning onto the ATC

Phew!! what a busy few days ..... and the holiday's not over yet.

I'll be back later in the week with the second half of our Cotswolds break.

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy your evening.  It's football and a bottle of red here ...... cheers!!

See you again soon

Linda

xx

Me and my big mouth .........!!!!

Hi everyone,

I'm home!!  It's nice to be back.  Suitcase is unpacked (again), washing is all done (again) and the craft room door is open - yeah!!

We've had a lovely weekend in the Cotswolds ....... what a beautiful part of the UK it is.  We're definitely going to be going back there, there's so much to see.  We crammed as much as we could into the 3 days we were there, but only skimmed the surface.

I had to go and say it, didn't I - that it was looking like we would have a good flight over to the UK.  Me and my BIG! mouth.  We had a delay of over 4 and a half hours ........ just after I'd blogged on Thursday, the blue skies and the sun disappeared and a thick mist came in over the island.  It sat there all flippin' afternoon, and we sat at the airport!! 
When the weather's like that, flights can't land on the island, our plane was actually circling overhead when we arrived at the airport at 4pm, but eventually it turned around and went back to Liverpool.  We finally got away at 9.40 in the evening.   After a long journey on the motorway, what with queues and then it was closed for two junctions so we had to take a detour, we finally arrived at our hotel about 2am.

We stayed in Cheltenham, at a lovely little hotel called The Wyastone.  Lydia was lovely and told us the best places to go and see.  One of her suggestions was that we took the Romantic Road - two specially researched car routes - A Road for Today and A Road for Tomorrow (aawww).  We took her advice and off we went. 
The routes take you through the most beautiful parts of the area, lots of little villages, full of beautiful honey-coloured stone cottages, very picturesque.    My favourite parts were Broadway, Stow on the Wold (great little Tea Rooms - Huffkins, they do fabulous cream teas!) Bourton on the Water (the Venice of the Cotswolds - cute little town, nice pubs along the water) and the Lavender Fields in Snowshill - simply beautiful! The tea rooms are very nice here too ....... we had some yummy lavender shortbread .......

And a rare picture indeed - I'm usually the other side of the camera ........

All in all we had a lovely relaxing weekend, stunning scenery, nice food and wine, and we even managed a spot of shopping.  No craft shops though, although we did buy a painting, I'm just waiting for it to be shipped.  It was hung in the hotel, done by a local artist, Katharine Dove, and it really caught my eye.  Luckily Stephen liked it too, an early anniversary pressie. 

Oh well, I'd better get on.  There's a chicken roasting in the oven, and the veg is cooking nicely, dinner won't be long. 
Thanks for popping by.  I'll be back tomorrow with some crafty stuff - my Tim Tag is finally done!!!

Have a lovely evening, it's beautiful here on the island (for now!)
Cheerio and I'll see you again tomorrow.

Linda

xx